Water restriction in different phenological stages and increased temperature affect cowpea production

Welson Lima Simões,Miguel Julio Machado Guimarães,Natoniel Franklin De Melo,Francislene Angelotti,Juliane Rafaele Alves Barros

doi:10.1590/1413-7054202145022120

Abstract

ABSTRACT Water deficit and high temperatures are abiotic factors that most limit plant growth and development. However, its effects depend on crop development stage and on stress duration and intensity. Thus, the objective of was to evaluate the development of cowpea subjected to water restriction in different phenological stages and to increase in air temperature. The experiment was conducted with the cultivar ‘Carijó’, in growth chambers, in a 4 x 3 x 2 factorial arrangement, corresponding to levels of water availability (25, 50, 75, and 100%,), phenological stages (vegetative, flowering and pod filling) and temperature regimes (T°1: 20-26-33 °C e T°2: 24.8-30.8-37.8 °C), respectively. Reduction of water availability in the vegetative and flowering stages caused decrease in grain production. The percentage of aborted flowers was higher in plants maintained under an increased temperature of +4.8 °C, with consequent reduction in grain production. Higher water availability values favored shoot and root dry mass production. Increase of 4.8 °C did not affect shoot and root dry mass but reduced water use efficiency by about 83%. The highest enzymatic activities of CAT, GPX and SOD were found in plants subjected to the temperature of +4.8 °C. Only APX showed lower enzymatic activity with increasing temperature. The cv. ‘Carijó’ is more sensitive to the 4.8 °C increase in air temperature than to water deficits.

Highlights

Climate change has become a challenge for food security (Gomes et al, 2019), since the increase in temperature and changes in rainfall pattern negatively affect agricultural production
Grain production was influenced by the interaction of water availability x phenological stages, and the simple effect of temperature
Shoot dry mass and root dry mass were influenced by the simple effects of water availability and temperature

Summary

Introduction

Climate change has become a challenge for food security (Gomes et al, 2019), since the increase in temperature and changes in rainfall pattern negatively affect agricultural production. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) stands out for being a plant rich in protein and with socioeconomic importance for the semiarid regions (Melo et al, 2018) Some authors consider this legume as a species with greater tolerance to water stress compared to other crops (Ndiso et al, 2016; Merwad; Desoky; Rady, 2018). These characteristics make cowpea cultivation relevant for food security, especially in the face of global climate change (Carvalho et al, 2019). This crop is adapted to semiarid conditions, water deficit and high temperatures during its development cycle can have a negative impact on production (Ndiso et al, 2016). According to Karim et al (2018), this impact will depend on the phenological stage of the crops during which this abiotic stress occurs

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Conclusion